Relief for Rabid J.K. Rowling Readers

J.K. Rowling fans don’t waste any time when tickets to see the author go on sale — even if they are not technically on sale yet.

The Jazz at Lincoln Center ticketing system was breached in what was presumably the first time it was really put to the test (Wynton Marsalis is popular, but not that popular).

Unauthorized tickets to watch Ms. Rowling read from her new, adult novel The Casual Vacancy went on sale on September 9 – a full 12 hours before they were supposed to.

Which means a lot of excited fans bought fake tickets.

But a change in venue means that nobody (who already bought tickets, that is) will be denied access. The October 16 reading, which has obviously sold out by now, was relocated to the 2,586-seat David H. Koch theatre . Those who jumped the gun and bought illegitimate tickets will be contacted by Jazz at Lincoln Center in order to get real tickets, Publisher’s Lunch reported today.

“Although neither Little, Brown and Company nor J.K. Rowling are responsible for this situation they were keen to make sure that no person who legitimately bought a ticket was left disappointed, are delighted this matter has been resolved in this way, and apologize for any confusion that may have been caused in the meantime,” Jazz at Lincoln Center wrote in an email to The Observer. Ticket holders who purchased prematurely will be contacted by Jazz at Lincoln Center in order to swap the fakes for new, real tickets to the new location.

Although the reading may be less intimate now, the change in venue leads to a happy outcome for all — especially Lincoln Center and J.K. Rowling, who presumably get to keep the extra cash.

Not that anybody had any doubts about J.K. Rowling’s ability to climb the besteller list, but this snafu bodes extremely well for book sales.